Tag: mindfulness

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It’s 3am…

Steve Rowe

It’s 3am….I have ‘restless body syndrome’The immortal me wants to talkI have 2 partsThe mortal meAnd the immortal meThe ‘human being’ meAnd the ‘being human’ meThe indoctrinatedAnd the unindoctrinated When I start to meditateI breathe deepI find stillness and silenceThe body calmsThe emotions calmThe mind calmsAt first there’s confusionThen everything settles Like the windows on a computerEmotion and thought shut downAllowing the immortal me to come forwardThat which is always looking out my eyesWho I talk to when I talk to myselfStill, silent, and always presentWho I have always beenWho I was before I was bornWho I am when my … Continue reading It’s 3am…

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The Power Of Nature

Steve Rowe

The Power Of Nature Sit in nature with an uncluttered mind and you can feel it. Our earth has an incredible power to reproduce, to survive and in balance to age, wither and die. This powerful energy drives the human body and emotions, it pervades all living things. It comes from the earth, doesn’t belong to us but is an incredibly powerful driver. If we don’t want to be subject to it we have to discipline, educate and alchemise it by understanding its basic needs of procreation and survival and observe the effects that it can have on our body … Continue reading The Power Of Nature

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The Importance Of Ritual

Steve Rowe

I’ve been asked to talk a little bit more about the importance of ritual. I’m ritual magic, before working on their inner self for healing and creating energy, the magicians would shower, anoint themselves with oils, wear a clean robe, go to the shrine room where they would keep a continuous flame burning 24/7. They would consecrate the space with water, and salt and cast a circle calling on the gods or elementals of 4 directions drawing symbols with a blade for protection. The preparation was important to create the right mindset to dig deep and do energetic work. In … Continue reading The Importance Of Ritual

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Every Training Is Different

Steve Rowe

Training on the fire escape this morning was very different. There was a strong smell of cannabis being farmed on the breeze (well it is Chatham) mixed with the scent of the flowers. It’s 5 months since Ann died and the grief is still raw with the birds circling the feeding table in the garden and sitting on the nearby branches looking down at where their food used to be. They still remember her. I can’t get down to the garden or to where they were fed so am unable to continue her legacy and I found myself apologising to … Continue reading Every Training Is Different

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From Earth To Heaven

Steve Rowe

Nature’s incredible urge to bring life and to survive is the most powerful energy there is, to alchemise it into ‘heavenly energy’ is the gift to humanity. It’s still in its incipient stages as most people are subject to to the survival urge and can only react with fear, anxiety and addiction, sometimes the addiction is to ‘happiness’ that can only trap despair as its comparison. Understanding the need to survive, listening to our instincts, objectively viewing the anger, anxiety and addiction, understanding what they are, developing patient kindness, empathy and compassion, spreading it out into our life and environment, … Continue reading From Earth To Heaven

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Never Say “It Can’t Get Any Worse”….

Steve Rowe

Never say “it can’t get any worse than this”… After my knee replacements I had continuous infections and had to have 25 surgeries with 3 life threatening sepsis attacks. It thought it couldn’t get worse. It did. My leg had to be amputated. Surely it couldn’t get worse? It did. I got cancer. That had to be the bottom, it couldn’t get worse than that. The bottom fell out. My wife of 43 years died suddenly. Every time I thought it can’t get any worse than this….. it did. Each time it left me empty, hollow, when everything had been … Continue reading Never Say “It Can’t Get Any Worse”….

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The Best Way To Start Tai Chi

Steve Rowe

The best way to start in any martial art and particularly Tai Chi is with posture and breathing exercises. Good posture gets rid of excess tension and allows for deep breathing, balance and mobility. Deep breathing calms the body, emotions and mind. When the mind follows the breath, the energy moves with it. This brings about a state of mindfulness and the ability to manipulate energy. In my Tai Chi this is then the foundation for qigong exercises, forms and push hands, done ‘monk style’ for self healing, and then taken into applications and weapons ‘warrior style’ for further health, … Continue reading The Best Way To Start Tai Chi

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How I Became Vegetarian

Steve Rowe

It was the 70’s.I’d been dragged up on a South London council estate, gone to the worst school in London, left school with no qualifications and drifted from job to job falling into the security world. From boxing, kickboxing to karate and spit and sawdust gyms doing bodybuilding to bulk up for the violence incurred at work. I thought respect, friendship and love, were all based on other people’s fear of me…. Until Tai Chi led me into the Taoist, Zen and Buddhist practice of mindfulness. I found dependent origination and the practice of patient kindness – that led me … Continue reading How I Became Vegetarian

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Pay Attention

Steve Rowe

To all you overthinkers…. I asked a student how long he meditated each day and he said “20 minutes”. I then asked him what he did while meditating and he replied ”I think about my breathing.” He wasn’t meditating, he was spending 20 minutes a day thinking…. He couldn’t differentiate between thinking and paying attention. Paying attention is mindfulness. And not for 20 minutes a day, but all day in everything we do. We think with the self, we pay attention with our consciousness. From paying attention and being mindful thinking slows down and insight and wisdom arise. “Mindfulness is … Continue reading Pay Attention

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Own Your Mind

Steve Rowe

It’s important to take time and spaceTo be still and silentNo TVNo radioNo musicAnd no peopleStop filling your mind with crapEveryone else wants a piece of itIt’s too easy to give it awayMindlesslyBe stillBe silentTurn your senses inwardAnd find yourselfDiscover your powerOwn your own mindAnd don’t let anything or anyone inWithout filtering itDevelop your own locus of power. Continue reading Own Your Mind